This is a substance made of cuttings of white or brown paper, boiled in water, and beaten in a mortar; till they are reduced to a kind of paste, and then boiled with a solution of gumarabic or of size, to give tenacity to the paste, which is afterwards formed into different articles, by pressing it into oiled moulds. When dry, the work is done over with a mixture of size and lampblack, and afterwards varnished. The black varnish for these articles is prepared as follows. Some colophony, or turpentine boiled down till it becomes black and friable, is melted in a glazed earthen vessel, and thrice as much amber in fine powder is sprinkled in by degrees, with the addition now and then of a little spirit or oil of turpentine. When the amber is melted, sprinkle in the same quantity of sarcocolla, continuing to stir them, and to add more spirit of turpentine, until the whole becomes fluid; then strain it out clear through a coarse hair bag, pressing it gently between hot boards. This varnish, mixed with ivory-black in fine powder, is applied, in a hot room, on the dried paper paste, which is then set in a gently heated oven, next day in a hotter oven, and the third day in a very hot one, and allowed to remain each time till the oven grows cold. The paste thus varnished is hard, durable, glossy, and is not affected by liquor, however hot.